Goal-oriented investment indexing, tracking and monitoring data processing system

ABSTRACT

A data processing system is disclosed which manages, monitors and reports the growth of a participant&#39;s investment base with respect to progress towards achieving a predetermined target amount selected by the participant. Additionally, the data processing system monitors and controls a wide variety of financial services which are provided to the participant such as check writing and borrowing privileges as well as insurance benefits. The growth of a participant&#39;s initial as may be supplemented by monthly investments is tracked and interpreted based on criteria and projections which are periodically made and which reflect how well the account is progressing towards achieving the target amount. In this regard, the time frame that it will take for the account to reach the target amount at the current account growth rate is projected at periodic intervals, e.g., monthly. The impact on such a time frame of accentuated payments, e.g., increased monthly payments or modified cycle payments (i.e., payments made at intervals of greater than once a month), is also reported to participants. The data processing system is programmed to track actual growth realized by the account against a predetermined guaranteed minimum rate return on a participants&#39; investment base.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to an improved data processing methodand apparatus for financial service task management. More particularly,the invention relates to a data processing system which manages,monitors, and reports the growth of a participant's investment base withrespect to progress towards achieving a predetermined target amount.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Due to a failure to participate in any meaningful savings program or dueto bad investments or unforeseen financial burdens, etc., the vastmajority of people in this country have been unable to achieve financialsecurity for either themselves or their families. Accordingly, the vastmajority of retired people in this country are unfortunately in aposition where they have to exist on a retirement income that is notvery far from the poverty level. Many of these individuals may havereceived a more than respectable annual salary for most of their workinglives. The present data processing method and apparatus uniquelycontributes to the accumulation of funds towards a predeterminedobjective or goal with built in assurances for accomplishing theobjective.

In order to be successful in efficiently achieving a desired end, it iscritical to have well defined goals. For best results, carefulmonitoring of the progress towards achieving the goals is highlydesirable. While there are many sophisticated prior art financialmanagement data processing systems, such systems are typically utilizedto monitor the investments selected by a client and/or an advisingbroker without regard to any predefined goal. For example, the securitybrokerage/cash management system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,442,discloses a data processing system for monitoring and controlling a widerange of investments without regard to an initial investment baseachieving any predefined goal.

The data processing system of the present invention manages, monitorsand reports the growth of a participant's investment base with respectto progress towards achieving a predetermined investment target or goalamount. Additionally, the data processing method and apparatus of anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, monitors and controls awide variety of financial services which are provided to the participantsuch as check writing and borrowing privileges as well as insurancebenefits.

The growth of a participant's initial investment base as may besupplemented by monthly investments is tracked and interpreted based oncriteria and projections periodically made which reflect how well theaccount is progressing towards achieving the target amount. In thisregard, the time frame that it will take for the account to reach thetarget amount at the current account growth rate is projected atperiodic intervals, e.g., monthly. The impact on such a time frame ofaccentuated payments, e.g., increased monthly payments or modified cyclepayments (i.e., payments made at intervals of greater than once amonth), is also reported to participants. As will be exemplified below,the present system segregates the growing investment base into aplurality of separate funds which are each monitored. The process ofusing maturing investments over time incorporating these features asdescribed in this application is referred to as investment indexing.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the data processingsystem is programmed to -track a predetermined guaranteed minimum ratereturn on a participants' investment base. While this predeterminedminimum guaranteed rate of return may be any reasonable rate of return(e.g., 4%, 6%, 8% or more), in the detailed description which followsthe guaranteed rate of return for purposes of example only is 8%.

In an exemplary embodiment, this minimum rate of return is guaranteed bythe company managing all the participant investments. The managingcompany receives from an individual participant a predetermined initialinvestment base, and typically a commitment by the investor to make apredetermined monthly investment. At the outset, the client also selectsa fixed target amount that the system utilizes as its target goal (e.g.,$100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000 dollars). Alternatively, the targetamount may be based on a fixed percentage of the initial investment(e.g., 50%). The data processing system of the present invention tracksthe growth of the initial investment base as well as the accumulatedmonthly payment base and periodically determines the time frame requiredto reach a participant's selected target goal based on currentperformance per projected or programmed guidelines. The funds may, forexample, be invested in a tax deferred vehicle such as insurance or taxexempt securities.

As noted above, the company controlling participant investmentsguarantees a predetermined rate of return on investments, e.g., 8%compounded monthly. If the prevailing rate of return is not sufficientto sustain growth of the accounts at the predetermined rate, the systemtracks the amount of funds required to be supplied by the managingcompany to place the investment base growth rate back on the guaranteedminimum return rate.

If the achieved investment rate of return from the managing company'scontrolled investment yields a higher rate of return than the minimumguaranteed rate, the excess amount over and above the minimum returnmay, for example, be split or otherwise allocated between the managingcompany and the participating client after predetermined operating costsare deducted or may be distributed in any other desirable manner. Thepresent system monitors the growth of the investment by segregating thegrowing investment base into a plurality of separate funds. As opposedto maintaining separate funds based on growth in excess of apredetermined minimum rate of return 8%, the present inventionalternatively contemplates segregating a predetermined percentage of theoriginal investment (such as 15% of the total investment) to achieve apredetermined return, for example, 50% of the total funds committed. Forfurther details in this regard, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,994,964 and4,885,685 are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. Forexample, U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,685 describes how a first fund comprising,for example, 85% of an initial investment base is utilized to support apredetermined investor activity, and 15% of the investment base isutilized to achieve a predetermined target investment goal. Similarly,in the present application, a first account fund (e.g., 85% of aninitial investment base) may be used for user controlledinvestments/expenditures and a second account fund (e.g., 15% of theinitial investment base) may be used to achieve a guaranteed targetamount, such as 50% of the total funds committed. The second account maybe treated as a special account with check writing privileges which ismonitored and controlled to achieve the guaranteed return, for example,in the manner described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,685 or in the mannerdescribed in detail herein. The managing company may typically reserve asignificant portion of its profits due to participant investmentperformance to cover future deficits.

The participant may be offered check writing and borrowing privilegesbased on a separate account which may be funded based on a predeterminedpercentage of the initial investment (and which returns funds to theinitial investment account) or on a predetermined percentage ofaccumulated funds which are in excess above the minimum guaranteed rateof return. It is noted that a predetermined percentage of theparticipants excess funds above the minimum rate of return are reservedfor covering deficits below the minimum rate of return (i.e., if thedeficit is so significant that the companies portion of split excessfunds over the 8% minimum rate of return is exhausted).

By way of example only, in order to prevent a participant fromself-destructive investments which would preclude achievement of thetarget goal in the desired time frame, the participant is only permittedto choose his or her own investments using a predetermined percentage ofthe funds which have accumulated as an excess above the 8% or anypredetermined target growth level. The return yielded by theparticipant's self-directed investments may be used to repay theoriginal investment amount deducted from the account.

The system also monitors the amount of funds which the participant isallowed to borrow at any predetermined time. The amount which may beborrowed may, for example, be a predetermined percentage of the fundsthat have accumulated based upon the 8% minimum guaranteed rate ofreturn. As with any loan, the amount borrowed is expected to be repaidin scheduled monthly installments. Such is, by way of example only,repayment demanded by the system in order to keep the participant'saccount on track to the target goal.

The participant has essentially complete flexibility as to selecting aninitial investment amount, the amount of the monthly payments and thedesired target investment goal. As noted above, if desired, the initialinvestment amount may be based on, for example, 85% of the totalinvestment funding which may be used for user controlled investmentexpenditures and the remaining 15% of the total funding may besegregated to achieve the predetermined target goal (e.g., 50% of theinitial investment funding). The managing company then uses the dataprocessing system of the present invention to project the amount of timethat it will take for the account to achieve the target goal based on apredetermined minimum rate of return, (e.g., 8%). As time progresses,the data processing system is used to project the reduced amount of timeto achieve the target goal in view of the higher return on investmentactually realized (e.g., 12%).

The data processing system of the present invention is utilized toperiodically process the data relating to the current monthly payments,initial investment base, and prevailing rate of return on investments toproject how much more time will be required to reach the participant'starget investment amount. At the same time, the data processing methodand apparatus of the present invention keeps track of the parameterswhich govern a participant's check writing, borrowing and insurancebenefits which flow from his current investment base. Periodic reportsreflecting such investment base growth, target projections and financialservices related information are generated, for example, on a monthlybasis, for both the participant's use and the managing company's use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These as well as other features of this invention will be betterappreciated by reading the following detailed description of anexemplary embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsof which:

FIG. 1 is schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment the hardwareelements in the data processing system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an alternative embodiment of hardwareelements in the data processing system of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams depicting the transactions whichthe data processing system of the present invention controls andmonitors;

FIGS. 4A-4C are graphs depicting investment growth at different ratesover time;

FIG. 5 is a plot of investment growth in different zones over time;

FIG. 6 is a plot showing exemplary account fluctuations over time;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a system including the softwareelements of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the data arrays utilized for storingaccount balances.

FIGS. 9A-9C are representations of an exemplary client account formatand its associated transaction file format, respectively;

FIGS. 10A-10C are a representation of an exemplary investment fileformat;

FIGS. 11A-11B are a flowchart delineating the sequence of operationsperformed by the process service requests routine.

FIGS. 12A-12E are flowcharts delineating the sequence of operationsperformed by the update client file routine;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart delineating the sequence of operations performedby the deduct subroutine;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are flowcharts delineating the sequence of operationsperformed by the default subroutine;

FIGS. 15A and 15B are flowcharts delineating the sequence of operationsperformed by the update investment file routine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Before turning to a detailed description of the hardware and softwareelements of the present invention, it is helpful to initially focus onthe definition of terminology and symbology which will be usedthroughout the specification. An "initial investment" (X_(O)) is theinitial amount of money which a client chooses to initially invest. The"monthly payment" (Y_(O)) is the amount of money which the client mayagree to invest on a monthly basis. The initial investment X_(O) andmonthly payment Y_(O) may be any predetermined amount selected by theclient. The monthly payment must otherwise be calculated by the systemin view of the client's desired target goal (M dollars) and timeframe (Nyears).

As will be described in detail below, the data processing system of thepresent invention, independently tracks the growth of the initialinvestment fund as well as the fund accumulated due to monthly paymentssince these two funds may grow at different rates. In this regard, themonthly payment fund may grow at a different rate than the initialinvestment fund since the monthly payments may vary. The participantstotal investment base (Z ) is the sum of the initial investment baseaccumulations plus the accumulated monthly payments. The total amount offunds in a client's account at any month i, where i may vary from 1 to12, is the sum of the initial investment accumulated funds at month i(X_(i)) plus the accumulated monthly payment funds at month i (Y_(i)).

The "target amount", or "target goal" M, is the ultimate amount of moneytargeted by the client that he desires to reach. The "target date" isthe date projected by the system at which the participant will achievethe target amount based on the initial investment X_(O), the monthlypayment Y_(O) and the guaranteed minimum interest rate I (e.g., 8%). The"time frame" N is the amount of time from the start date that will berequired to achieve the target amount (to the nearest month).

The "growth line" (or growth floor) is the guaranteed minimum rate ofreturn on a participant's investment by the controlling company (e.g.,the accumulating account balance based on 8% growth rate). If theprevailing rate of return on investments is below this growth floor, theinvesting company is responsible for making up whatever deficit isrequired to put the account growth back on track and in line with thegrowth line. By way of example, in the present specification, the growthline is 8% compounded monthly.

The "excess funds" is the amount of money at any given point in time ina participant's account that is in excess of the 8% growth line paid bythe company. For example, if an account has grown at a rate of 12%, the"excess funds" is the difference between the current amount in theaccount accumulated at 12% and the amount of money which would have beenin the account if the account had grown in accordance with the minimumguaranteed rate of return of 8%.

The "split zone" refers to all the excess funds in the account which aresplit between the participant and the investment controlling company(e.g., 50/50 split). The funds in the split zone are separatelymonitored by the system. A "make-up" payment is a payment which issubtracted from the client's portion of the split zone to make up for amonthly payment which was not made.

"Check writing" is a client service provided through an investment bankand monitored by the system, but may be limited to one half of theclient's portion of the split zone. The investment bank is informed bythe controlling company each month as to the amount of funds that theclient is permitted to write checks against.

A "client investment" is an investment which is funded by up to one halfof the funds in the client's portion of the split zone, which may beutilized by the client to make investments he chooses. These investmentsare processed by the controlling company and monitored by the company sothat initial profits resulting from such an investment are utilized toreplenish the funds taken from the split zone prior to any furtherdistributions to the client.

A "client loan" is the amount of funds which may be borrowed by aparticipant at any time, but which is limited to, for example, tenpercent of the funds which have accumulated based on a 8% rate of return(i.e., at the growth line). Alternatively, borrowing may be restrictedto funds outside of the investment account using investment accountfunds as collateral.

The "company deficit" is the amount of funds for which the controllingcompany is responsible (i.e, a growth rate below the minimum rate) inorder to put a participant's account back on track to attain the minimumguaranteed rate of return. In order to make up the loss to restore aparticipant's account to the growth line for any given month, thedeficit is initially funded by the amount of funds in the company'ssplit zone. By way of example only, if these funds should becomeexhausted, the company deficit may be funded by the funds from theclient's portion of the split zone.

An "accent payment" is an increased payment, over and above theagreed-upon monthly payment, to increase the investment base or to payoff any existing loans. A "cycle payment" is a increased number ofpayments interleaved with regularly scheduled monthly payments. Througheither the use of accentuated payments or cycle payments, a participantmay catch up on missed payments on a current schedule, or accelerate thecurrent schedule to shorten the time frame to reach his target amount.Alternatively, such payments may be used to increase his target amountwhile staying on the original time frame formulated upon entry into theprogram.

The "recovery period" is the length of time that it will take to restorean account to its undisturbed value prior to a client loan, a clientinvestment, or a company deficit. The "restore date" is the date atwhich the account will be restored at the end of the recovery period.The "operating costs" are the costs which are deducted from an accountprior to the company/client split.

Finally, it is noted that each participant account may have an insurancevalue associated with it. For example, the participant's initialinvestment may be utilized as a single premium insurance purchase.

Turning now to the drawings, as shown in FIG. 1, the heart of the dataprocessing hardware elements of an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention is the Concurrent (formerly Perkin-Elmer) 3280 CentralProcessing Unit 1 (CPU). The 3280 CPU is extremely fast and efficientand is powerful enough to process a large volume of account data whilehandling nearly simultaneous inquiries regarding individual participantaccounts processing at a number of terminals. In this regard, the CPUprocesses on the order of 6 million instructions per second (MIPS), andis therefore fully capable of handling a large volume of investmentprocessing tasks with an extremely fast response time.

The CPU 1 creates the client investment account related data files (aswill be explained further below) and stores such data files on disk 3,which may, for example, be a CDC850 megabyte (MB) disk manufactured byControl Data Corporation. Many of the programs controlling the CPU arelikewise stored on disc 3. These programs are selectively retrieved andexecuted to accomplish the financial management tasks of the presentinvention on both an offline periodic basis and an online demand basis.

In the FIG. 1 embodiment, CPU 1 receives financial account statusinquiries and account transactions from individual clients or theinvestment managing company. Account status inquiries may be made by theclient via an 800 phone number service. These client processing requestsare entered into the system via display terminals 9, which may, forexample, be Lear Siegler ADM-11 keyboard/display terminals. Each inputrequest regarding a given account is processed as one of N separatetasks (1, 2 , . . . , N-1, N) by the CPU 1 after being stored in afirst-in first-out (FIFO) stack resident in 16-MB storage memory 5 in,for example, a storage area designated as 10 in FIG. 1. Also resident inmemory 5 is the operating system 6 for the 3280 CPU, commonly designatedas O/S 32. O/S 32 provides a multi-tasking environment in which allinvestment-related tasks (1, 2 , . . . , N) communicate through a shared"global" common memory area.

By way of example only, information required for all the taskprocessing, such as the prevailing investment rate of return to be usedfor monitoring investment growth, is stored in the common memory area 8where it is used in processing, for example, each of the client accountstatus inquiry requests as will be explained further below. Each of theclient account files is also processed on a periodic basis, e.g.,monthly, so that the account data may be analyzed and updated by theCPU 1. Such updating is conducted in response to, for example, theprevailing rate of return and the account activity (i.e., check writing,loans, etc.) from the financial institution 13 managing the company'sinvestment accounts.

Memory 5 is utilized by CPU 1 via memory controller 19 for loading andexecuting programs relating to client file updating, client accountstatus inquiry processing, saving updated "global" data back on disc 3,etc. In view of the 32 address bits available in the 3280 CPU, virtuallyunlimited expansion of memory 5 is contemplated by the present system.Additionally, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art,additional disc drives can be utilized by CPU 1 via the disc controller17, should the data files exceed 850 MB. The tape unit 7, which may bean STC 6250 bits-per-inch (BPI) drive, serves as a back-up memory underthe control of CPU 1 via tape controller 15 and is used to preserve thedisc contents as archival data and/or in case of a power failure, dischead crash, or other system catastrophe.

The system also includes a printer 11. The CPU 1 interfaces with displayterminals 9 and printer 11 via a conventional peripheral controller 13.The printer 11 may, for example, be a Data Products 1000lines-per-minute (LPM) printer for producing, e.g., periodic monthlystatements, hard copies of individual status requests, etc.

The data processing system of the present invention further communicateswith a financial institution 13, which may be a bank, a brokerage house,or the like. A computer in financial institution 13 receives, forexample, information from CPU 1 regarding the amount available in theclient account for check writing, and new account information. Inreturn, it transmits to CPU 1 prevailing rate of return indicia,including the amount of interest credited to the high-yield investmentfund, and the amounts written on client's individual checking accounts.

FIG. 2 shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention whereinall of the customer accounts may be accessed remotely via modems 25.System components which operate identically, as described above, willnot be discussed with respect to FIG. 1. By utilizing a remote terminal(not shown) similar to display terminals 9 via a modem 25, an affiliatedinvestment company or an individual account holder, can directly input,for example, an account status inquiry request by keying in a customername, account number, etc., and can directly receive a response withoutthe need for an 800 number. Such a response may, for example, enable anassociated, remotely-located investment company manager to immediatelyapprove a loan to a participating client.

In the system shown in FIG. 2, the CPU 1 operates as the executivecontroller that assigns tasks to a bank of slave auxiliary processorunits (APU) 27, 29 and 31. Each APU is identical in structure to the3280 CPU so that it includes, for example, the same peripheral tape,disc, and memory controllers shown with CPU 1, as well as it ownasynchronous communication interface 21. APU 27 is dedicated to handlingthe relatively slow input-output communications between the tasks (1, 2, . . . , N) and the modems linked to associated remote terminals.

In the FIG. 2 embodiment, CPU 1, for example, monitors a job queue inmemory 5 and assign tasks to a particular APU for processing. In thisfashion, the APU's 29 and 31 relieve CPU 1 of much of its processingrequirements. Each APU handles multiple tasks, one for each incomingrequest. Each APU locks out the client's account from all other APU'swhile it processes the account related task and updates the client'saccount on disk 5. As noted above, a separate APU 27 is dedicated tomultiplexing all input-output from each active task to the remoteterminal which initiates its respective service request.

All tasks access and update pertinent system data (for example,prevailing rate of return, loan withdrawals, etc.) through the globalcommon memory area 8. There should be no competition to update(lock-out) the same client account file, since the client only typicallygenerates one account processing task at a time. Any conflicts arisingfrom internal status inquiries via display terminals 9 are resolved byCPU 1 prior to task assignment, according to the priority of therequesting display terminal. For example, an inquiry from a companyexecutive would be honored over any other remote terminal inquiry.

Before describing the software related subsystems of an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 3A and 3B will be initiallydescribed. These figures generally depict the nature of the transactionsfor which the system is responsible for monitoring and controlling. Inthis regard, the transaction flowchart shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B may belogically divided into initial investment monthly updating, and demandprocessing subsections. The system software which implements the monthlyupdate and service on-demand sections is described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 3A, entry into the system begins with a client'sinitial investment (100). The initial investment and the periodicallyreceived monthly payments are placed into a high-yield fund at afinancial institution such as a brokerage house or a bank (102). Thehigh-yield fund reflects the pooling of all client investments into acommon investment fund at the financial institution (104). Theprevailing interest rate (i.e., the predetermined rate of return appliedto the client accounts) is periodically fed back to the data processingsystem (106) (daily, weekly or monthly) so that the processing systemcan monitor the growth rate of the entire investment fund.

The current growth rate of the investment fund is thereafter comparedwith the individual client account thresholds (as will be explainedfurther below) to determine the status of each client account (108).First, as indicated at block 109, current operating expenses arededucted from the growth amount attributed to each account. Then, asindicated at block 110, the performance of each account is evaluatedeach month based on the current rate of return which is compared withthe return generated by an 8% interest rate.

If the account is performing above the 8% growth rate (112), then theexcess above the 8% growth line is split into two equal portions (114).As shown at block (116), the split zone balance is incremented to keeptrack of the total amount of funds associated with the account which isin excess of the 8% growth line. The funds in the split zone are splitbetween company profits (120) and the client account (118) andassociated balances in the client's stored account record areincremented at 120 and 118, accordingly.

Alternatively, if the account is performing below the 8% growth line(122), then the deficit below the guaranteed 8% rate is drawn from thecompany profits (120), as indicated at (124). These funds are used toincrement the funds in the account to place the account growth rate backon track at the 8% growth line (126 and 118).

In addition to initial investment and monthly update processing, asshown in FIG. 3A, the system also is responsible for demand processingtasks based on client requests for service (130), as shown in FIG. 3B.The service takes the form of either a check written or credit cardpurchase (138), an investment request (146) or a loan request (152) Ifdesired, yet other services may be associated with the account, such as,for example, travel service processing requests, as described in theapplicants' U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,685, which patent has been incorporatedherein by reference.

Initially, after a client request service (130), is it necessary for thesystem to verify the clients' identification (132). If the clients' IDis invalid, then the service request is denied (136). If, however, theclient's ID is valid, then the service requested by the client iscompared to the client account current balances (134).

As indicated above, the system places certain restrictions on checkwriting, investment requests and loan requests privileges. Morespecifically, checks may be written on up to one half of the client'ssplit of the excess fund over the 8% growth line. Similarly, by way ofexample only, investment requests are limited to the same amount.Independent of these privileges, however, a loan request may be grantedfor up to 10% of the funds currently indicated by the 8% growth line.

Focusing first on checks written (138), a comparison is made of theamount of the check (or credit card purchase) with one half of theclient split balance (140). If the check amount is above this balance,then the request is denied (136). However, if the check is below thisbalance, then the check is honored (142) and the client's split balanceis decremented by the amount of the check (144).

Similarly, for an investment request (146) a comparison is first madebetween the amount of the investment request with one half of the clientsplit balance (148). If the investment request is above thepredetermined balance, the request is denied (136). Alternatively, ifthe request is below this balance, then the investment is secured by themanaging company (150) and the client's split balance is likewisedecremented (144).

Finally, for a loan request (152), a comparison is made between theamount of the loan r--quest with a predetermined loan percentage (e.g.,10%) of the current 8% growth line (154). If the loan request is abovethis authorized loan limit, then the request is denied (136). If theloan request is below this limit, the loan is granted (156) and theclient's loan limit is decremented by the amount of the granted loan(158). Similarly, in addition to the client's split balance beingdecremented when a check is honored (142) or an investment is secured(150), the client account is likewise decremented (158). Funds forhonoring the check, securing the investment, and granting the loan areextracted from the investment fund (104) as indicate by the dashed lineleading thereto from block 158.

Turning now to FIG. 4A, this graph plots the growth of an initialinvestment base as a function of years during which an investment iscompounding monthly. FIG. 4A shows graphically how an initial investmentwill grow based on an 8% rate of return compounded monthly. For example,if the initial investment X_(O) is $100.00 dollars, at the end of fiveyears the 100.0 dollars will multiply by a factor of 1.49 to mature to149.00 dollars. At the end of 10 years the 100.00 dollars will bemultiplied by a factor of 2.22 to mature into 222.0 etc. The growthfactors shown in FIG. 4A, i.e., 1.49 and 2.22, 3.31, and 4.93, remainthe same regardless of the amount of the initial investment. Thus,growth factors may be used to determine a projected value for the growthof an account after N years based on any initial investment base X_(O).

The present investment indexing concept and implementation is based onplacing the initial investment base into higher-yield funds (usually 12to 20%) such as, for example, zero-coupon and tax-deferred investments.These invested funds are tracked and managed to insure the achievementand progress towards a predetermined objective, well above theguaranteed minimum ration of return.

As indicated above, the investment controlling company guarantees apredetermined ate of return for a participants investment which, by wayof example only, is presumed to be 8% herein. Because the 8% growth ofan initial investment base is being guaranteed by the company, in orderto determine projections associated with every client account, thegrowth factors for the 8% rate of return form a first month of aninitial year through the last moth of, for example, the 30th year arestored in a table in memory to enhance the efficiency of projectioncalculations. In this fashion, the projections calculations do not needto be repeated each time a projection is made. By this process, a smallamount of inexpensive memory storage for these tables can be exchange toreclaim far more expensive processing time in making redundantcalculations.

Using these growth factors the system independently tracks theaccumulations of two independent funds within each account. The twofunds are the initial investment fund "Bal" and the monthly payment fund"Y". Upon entry into the program, the initial investment at time T_(O)to Bal (original balance) plus Y_(O) (the first monthly payment). Tofind the balance of the account for any given year (i.e., the ith-yearvalue) and/or the balance at the end of the agreed-upon timeframe (i.e.,the Nth year value), the system initially assumes that Bal_(O) is equalto Bal_(i-1) and Y_(o) equals Y_(i-1) (that is, for i starting at avalue of 1). The final balance, Bal_(N), is the projected accumulatedvalue of the account due only to the growth of the initial investment atthe end of the program (i.e., year N). To find Bal_(N), a series ofintermediate calculations must first be made for Bal_(i) which is thebalance for each intervening year i up to year N. Stated mathematically,the final balance (Bal_(i)) may be calculated for any given year (i) forwhich the beginning balance Bal_(j=O)) is known, as follows: ##EQU1##

Equation (I) above gives the ith year investment accumulation for thetwelve months in that year, where the interest is compounded monthly. Tofind the accumulation of the initial investment over the years, Bal_(N)is equal to the sum of the Bal_(i) for all the years from to 1 to N.Stated mathematically, the final balance (Bal_(N)) may be calculated atyear N by summation of each Bal_(i) in equation (I) above for theintervening years i, as follows: ##EQU2##

The I used in equations (I) and (II) is the predetermined interest rate(e.g., 8%), which is used for projection the account growth.

To determine the account accumulation Y_(N) attributable solely tomonthly payments at year N, a similar series of calculations must bemade. To find Y_(N), Y_(i) must likewise be calculated to determine theaccumulation, during any given year i in the account due to the monthlypayments. Stated mathematically, the final balance (Y_(N)) may becalculated for any given year (i) for which the beginning balanceY_(j=O)) is known, as follows: ##EQU3##

Y_(O) in equation (III) above represents the monthly payment that theparticipant initially agreed to make, compounded with interest eachmonth. The variable J which varies from 1 to 12 reflects each of themonths in the year. To find Y_(N) which is the accumulation of monthlypayments at the end of the program when the client's target goal isreached, the above Y_(i) must be summed from the year 1 through year N.Stated mathematically, the final balance (Y_(N)) may be calculated atyear N by summation of each Y_(i) in equation (III) above for theintervening years i, as follows: ##EQU4##

The growth due to the initial investment Bal_(i) and the growth due tomonthly payments Y_(i) are considered separately here because they maygrow at different rates due to fluctuations in monthly payments.However, the total value of the account at any given time is the sum ofthe accumulation due to the initial investment Bal_(i) plus theaccumulation due to monthly payments Y_(i). Assuming the client'smonthly payment remains constant at Y_(o), the above equations (I)through (IV) can be reduced to a single equation (V) to find the totalBal_(N) projected for year N. Stated mathematically, the final balance(Bal_(N)) can be calculated by summation of Bal_(i) for each interveningyear (i) for which the beginning balance (Bal_(j=O)) is known and themonthly payments (Y_(O)) remain constant, as follows: ##EQU5##

The time required for a given initial investment X_(O) to reach apredetermined desired target amount M varies dramatically as the rate ofreturn (or interest rate I) varies that is applied to the initialinvestment. A growth factor table is shown below which indicates thegrowth factors for an initial investment for interest rates of 8%, 10%,12%, 14% and 16% across increasing timeframes of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and30 years. These factors have been calculated using the equationsdiscussed above for calculating Bal_(N). The values shown in this tablehave been plotted in FIG. 4B, which graphically illustrates the rapiduse in growth rate of an initial investment X_(O) over time in years N)as a function of increasing interest rate (8% , . . . , 16%).

    ______________________________________                                        GROWTH FACTOR TABLE                                                                     INTEREST RATE                                                       TIMEFRAME (compounded monthly)                                                (years)   8%       10%      12%   14%   16%                                   ______________________________________                                         5        1.49     1.65      1.82  2.01  2.21                                 10        2.22     2.71      3.30  4.02  4.90                                 15        3.31     4.45      6.00  8.07 10.85                                 20        4.93     7.33     10.89 16.18 24.02                                 25        7.34     12.06    19.79 32.45 53.17                                 30        10.94    19.84    35.95 65.08 117.72                                ______________________________________                                    

Focusing, for example, on the 10% growth curve, at the end of thirtyyears, FIG. 4B shows that an initial investment will have grown by afactor of 20 times. However, at a 12% rate of return, an initialinvestment will be multiplied 20 times in only 25 years, a net savingsof 5 years. Thus, while the system is designed to make projections andguarantee a predetermined rate of return, e.g., 8%, both the controllinginvestment company and the participant may reasonably expect theinvestment to perform at a higher rate of return where both partiessplit the excess over the guaranteed minimum 8% rate of return.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention permits a participantto select upon entry in the program an initial fund investment baseX_(O), a monthly payment Y_(O) and a target amount M that theparticipant sets as an achievement goal. With these three parametersX_(O), Y_(O), and M and with the investment company guaranteed rate ofreturn being at a predetermined level e.g., 8% (compounded monthly), thesystem is able to project the number of years N (to the nearest month)that it will take the participant's investment to reach the desiredtarget amount M. The number of years projected is intended to be amaximum limit only, since the investment account performance is expectedto be above the chosen guaranteed predetermined rate of return.

FIG. 4C shows an exemplary plot of how the projected growth of the totalinvestment accumulates over time. On the time scale, points are labeledfor year N_(8%) and year N_(12%) which represent the number of yearsthat it will take the total investment base to reach the target goal, ifthe rate of return stays at 8% or alternatively, at 12%. As shown inFIG. 4C, the total amount in the account at any given time is equal tothe sum of the amount in the account due to the growth of the initialinvestment, Bal_(O) =X_(O), plus the accumulation due to constantmonthly payments Y_(o) (where X and Y may be calculated as described indetail above). FIG. 4C shows graphically how the independent Y curveaccelerates the X curve toward target amount M.

Thus, by knowing the initial investment amount X_(O), the monthlypayments Y_(O) and the target amount M, the number of years N that itwill take to reach the target amount (to the nearest month) may bedetermined by using equation V above. Initially, a calculation is madeas described above to find Z_(i) =X_(i) +Y_(i). After calculating Z_(i)for each year (from 1 through, for example, 30), a determination is madeas to whether Z_(i) is greater than the target amount M. If so, then Nis set equal to i-1. A determination is then made for Z at the year i-1.Thus, once the total amount in the account, Z_(i), is greater than thetarget amount M at year N⁺¹, then the equation index i must be reducedby 1 to declare the number of years N.

Thereafter, a calculation is made to determine the nearest month atwhich the target amount is reached. Thus, while varying the equationindex j from 1 to 12, if Z_(j) becomes greater than M, then N must beset equal to N+j/12. In this fashion, the year and the month at whichthe target amount is reached can be precisely calculated for any givenpredetermined rate of return. If desired, the number of years projectedto reach the participant's target amount may be determined for a rangeof reasonable rates of return on investments (e.g., 10%, 12%, etc.) andsupplied to the participating client.

FIG. 5 shows a plot of investment growth over time and generally depictsthe modes of system operations triggered by investment performance. Oncethe client has selected his parameters (M=target amount, X_(o) =initialfunds, Y_(o) =monthly payment) then the company guarantees N=number ofyears to achieve the target amount (based on I=8% growth rate compoundedmonthly). The account growth at the guaranteed exemplary rate of return8% is referred to as the 8% growth line. Any growth above the 8% growthline reflects account performance in the "split zone" (e.g., 12% growthrate) and is evenly split between client and company.

Any growth below the 8% growth line reflects account performs in the"penalty zone" (e.g., 6% growth rate) and is a deficit that comes out ofcompany's share of the split. If the account performing at exactly an 8%rate of return then the target amount M will be reached at year N_(8%).

Assuming that the account experienced a steady 12% growth rate, theclient may leave his share of the split in the account, therebydramatically compressing the number of years to his target M, asillustrated in FIG. 5 at year N_(12%). Otherwise, he may withdraw up toone half of his "split" by writing checks against that amount, and/or hemay invest up to one half his split in investments of his own choosing.In the case of a missed payment, the company will debit the errantclient account just as if a check were written. (This defaultaccommodation, of course, can continue only so long as the client has"split" funds remaining.)

Furthermore, as an added accommodation, the client may borrow againsthis account up to a 10% margin of the current 8% growth line (repaymentcan then be "piggybacked" on top of his monthly payment).

Finally, the client can "simulate" higher interest rates, or simply play"catch-up" for missed payments, by adding "accent" payments to hisregular monthly payment or by making payments at a different yearlycycle, i.e., 15 per year instead of 12 per year. Accent payments aresimilar to increases "piggybacked" for loan repayment.

FIG. 6 graphically portrays account fluctuations over a period of timeduring which a client exercises his check writing, investment and loanprivileges under varying market condition. Just as in FIG. 5, thecompany guarantees at least an 8% growth rate at all times, maturingupon reaching the predetermined N_(8%) years (as shown above). By way ofexample only, the initial growth rate of the initial investment X_(o) ispresumed to be 12% at time T_(o) yielding a 4% excess, in the "SPLITZONE" (which is split between the company and the client).

At time T₁, the client exercises his check-writing privilege up to theaccount limit (1/2 the client split). The account then continues upwardagain at a 12% rate. These checks are considered permanent withdrawalsthat do not have to be repaid by the client.

At time T₂, the client exercises his personal investment privilege up tothe account limit (1/2 the client split). The account then continuesupward again at a 12% rate. However, the return on the client'sinvestment must be placed back into the account until the amountinvested is restored at time T₃ (investment recovery date). Thereafter,the proceeds go directly to the client or to the account, at his option.

At time T₄, the client exercises his personal loan privilege up to theaccount limit (10% of the 8% growth line). Hence, this loan privilege isalways available, even if there is no cumulative excess to draw from.The payments are piggybacked onto the regular monthly payment until itis restored at time T₅ (loan recovery date).

At year N_(12%), the account would have reached the target M had theclient not written checks earlier at time T₁. At this juncture the graphpresumes that the rate of return drops drastically to 4%, well below thecompany-guaranteed 8%, resulting in a deficit. The company therefore hasto divert funds from the company's split to compensate so that, by timeT₆, the account has recovered from the deficit. As a result, the accountreaches target M on time at year N_(ACTUAL). At the time T₆, theinterest rate jumps dramatically to 16% which accelerates reaching thetarget amount M by year N_(ACTUAL). Alternatively, the client could haveelected to add accent payments resulting in the same acceleration towardtarget M.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of the present system highlightingthe software elements necessary to control the computer system shown inFIG. 1 so as to implement the present invention. The elements shownabove the horizontal dotted line in the center are event-driven andfunction to enter or process data as needed on demand. The elementsbelow the dotted line process data periodically (e.g., daily, weekly,monthly) to repetitively perform predetermined tasks.

As indicated at block 200, the system must initially set up the clientand investment files which are stored on the disk 3 shown in FIGS. 1 and2. Likewise, in order to initialize the system, the investment fund mustbe set up in conjunction with a financial institution such as a bank orbrokerage house (206, 214). Part of the initial set up for a new clientaccount file involves assignment of a security ID code to the newclient. These ID codes are stored in ID file 203 whose file format isshown below.

    ______________________________________                                         ID FILE FORMAT                                                               ACCOUNT #                              START/                                 current/  ID #                        DATE                                    transferred                                                                             current/last                                                                            NAME      ADDRESS mo/yr                                   ______________________________________                                        A         aaaa                                                                B         bbbb                                                                C         cccc                                                                .         .                                                                   .         .                                                                   .         .                                                                   Z         zzzz                                                                ______________________________________                                    

The ID file which is stored on disk 3 has been strategically segregatedfrom the main CLIENT ACCOUNT files to protect the valuable ID#'s fromcasual observation by system operators. Access to this file is grantedby the system only to the individual acting as system administratorthrough the system console (23) of FIG. 1. The ID#'s have not beeninserted in the CLIENT ACCOUNT format, and their usage is confined tobeing entered by the operator (called by the client) and validated bythe system, all without screen presentation. Up to four (4) successiveattempts are allowed before the system suspends the account and demandsconfirmation in writing that the client himself is attempting to enterthe wrong ID#. The ID numbers can be easily changed periodically or uponan unauthorized access attempt with proper notification to the client atthe address of record.

The system software also permits company management officials to makestatus inquiries of the system (202). As indicated by block 204, thepresent system responds to an input client service request for a loan orinvestment request by transferring client account indicia to a processservice request routine 212 via disk memory in which client/investmentaccounts are stored. Client service requests in the form of checkswritten or credit card purchases drawn on the client's account areprocessed by the bank (214) which is provided (via the process servicerequest routine 212) with checking and credit card account limits suchas those discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 3A and 3B. As will beexplained further below in conjunction with FIG. 11, the process servicerequest routine serves to verify a client's I.D., to determine whetherthe service request is within the boundaries discussed in conjunctionwith, for example, FIG. 3B. Presuming that the boundary checks yieldsatisfactory results, the output of the process service request routinewill be loan or investment related documents (e.g., notification ofsecurities purchased) which go to the client. Concurrently, with theissuance of such documents, as explained above with respect to FIG. 3Aand 3B, a fund withdrawal notification is sent to the bank (214),thereby decrementing the investment fund by the amount approved for theloan or investment.

The process service requests routine 212 additionally serves to providetransaction data related to the investments or loans to the transactionfile 213 which is also stored on disk 3. The transaction filecollectively stores the ongoing transactions generated by all theaccounts each day. This file permits transaction data to be readilyaccessed for account auditing and/or analysis. The transaction fileheadings and fields are self-explanatory and are discussed below inconjunction with the client account file format.

Focusing on the periodic processing that occurs within the system, theclient/investment accounts 210 which are stored on disk are periodicallybacked up on the tape files 218. Presuming that the periodic processingis performed on a monthly basis, the client files would be updated onceeach month by an update client files routine 216 (which is discussed indetail below in conjunction with FIGS. 12A-12E) to reflect usage of thesystem throughout the month. Thus, while a client service request entryat 204 for a loan will serve to add an additional increment of indiciainto the client's investment account stored on the disk 3, the updateclient files routine at 216 serves to provide a cumulative tabulation ofall of the service requests that have been processed by the system. Theupdate client files routine 216 will utilize data relating to thecurrent account status, such as the available account balance, thetarget amount the client desires to reach, the client's monthly paymentand the prevailing rate of return transmitted or received from the bank214, to make projections as to how long it will take the client to reachhis target goal at the 8% growth rate (and at current rates of return).Projections will also be made based on the clients adopting anaccentuated payment schedule.

Once the client account files have been updated, they are stored back ondisk for subsequent interrogation for the next service request. Theprocess service requests routine (212) must be locked out during thisupdate to avoid obtaining an out-of-date balance. Therefore, the updateclient files routine (216) must be run off-line during non-peak hours.

The update client file routine 216 will also generate a client accountsummary 222 which is transmitted to the client 226, as well as to thecompany 228. The client summary at 222 informs the client of not onlythe current status of his account, but also the projections made by theupdate client files routine 216.

The update investment file routine (which is described in detail belowin conjunction with FIGS. 15A and 15B) shown at 220 serves to summarizethe cumulative balance totals for each and every client in the system.In addition, the updated investment file routine keeps track of thecompany's aggregate profits as well as the funds expended to restoremonth-to-month account deficits, such as described during thetransactions in FIG. 3A with respect to blocks 120, 124, and 126, ifsuch deficits, in fact, ever arise. The updated investment file isstored back on disk for subsequent status inquiries 202. Just as withthe update client files routine 216, the update investment files routine220 must run off-line after hours, since it must lock out all otherinterrogations during the update.

The output of the update investment file routine is summarized in aninvestment summary report 224 which is transmitted to the company 228.Like the update client files routine 216, the update investment fileroutine 220 receives the prevailing interest rate which it utilized toproject the cumulative growth of the overall investment base.

Before turning to the detailed program flowcharts, it should be notedthat the flow of system control revolves around the ON/OFF controlstates of a unique set of control status words (CSW's), which aredelineated, switch-by-switch, in the table below:

                                      TABLE III                                   __________________________________________________________________________    CONTROL STATUS WORDS (CSW'S)                                                                                                         D/O                    CSW   A         P       C       I       L       S      DEFICIT/               switches                                                                            ACCOUNT   PAYMENT CREDIT  INVEST  LOAN    SPLIT  OPERATE                __________________________________________________________________________    all OFF                                                                             all flags off                                                                           no flags                                                                              no flags                                                                              no flags                                                                              no flags                                                                              no flags                                                                             no flags                     for this account                                                        1     Payment CSW ON                                                                          bal > 0 bal = 0 bal > 0 bal > 0 bal = 0                                                                              bal > 0                2     Credit CSW ON                                                                           payment = 0                                                                           split = 0                                                                             repayment = 0                                                                         repayment = 0                                                                         split = 0                                                                            payment = 0            3     Invest CSW ON                                                                           nonpay- used for                                                                              used for                                                                              used for                                                                              used for                                                                             unpaid                                 ments > 1                                                                             payments                                                                              payments                                                                              payments                                                                              deficit                                                                              deficit > 1            4     Loan CSW ON                                                                             dep. req.d                                                                            max CREDIT                                                                            max INVEST                                                                            max LOAN                                                                              max SPLIT                                                                            dep req.d                              from client                                                                           exceeded                                                                              exceeded                                                                              exceeded                                                                              exceeded                                                                             from co.               5     Split CSW ON                                                            6     Deficit CSW ON                                                          7     Operate CSW ON                                                          __________________________________________________________________________

The relationship between these CSW's is as follows. Acsw ACCOUNTSTATUS--indicates whether there are nay cautionary "flags" ON in any ofthe control status words (CSW's) for the client's account. If any CSW(P, L, I, C, S, D, O) has a flag ON, its associated switch (1, 2, . . ., 7) is turned ON. Hence, if all CSW's for a given account are OFF, thenthe ACCOUNT status word CSW will have all switch positions (1, 2, . . ., 7) turned OFF.

The remaining CSW's (P, L, I, C, S, D, O) have four ON/OFF "flag"switches (1, 2, 3, 4) which indicates an increasing degree of cautionrequired on the given account:

    ______________________________________                                        CSW SWITCHES                                                                              DEGREE OF CAUTION REQUIRED                                        ______________________________________                                        all OFF     no flags - account is OK and on schedule                                      towards target amount M.                                          1 ON        an unfavorable condition exist - that is,                                     there is either an unwanted balance                                           (CSW's P/L/I/D) or a desired balance is                                       zero (CSW's C/S)                                                  2 ON        the current, expected contribution to the                                     account is zero (payment, repayment, or                                       split amount)                                                     3 ON        negative account status - that is, the                                        failure of expected contributions has                                         occurred more than once (CSW's P/D), or                                       some of the client's/company's split funds                                    had to be used to cover the unpaid                                            payments/deficits (CSW's, D/I/C/S)                                4 ON        worst-case account status - maximum                                           available amounts have been exceeded and a                                    client/company DEPOSIT has been                                               required                                                          ______________________________________                                    

These CSW status "flags" 1-4 represent progressively more seriousconditions. Thus, CSW status 2 will not be set unless status 1 isalready ON, CSW status 3 will not be set unless status 2 is already ON,etc. Upon reaching CSW status 4, the system must take some action tocorrect the condition and/or to notify the client that the problemflagged is jeopardizing his chances of reaching target amount M.

Pcsw--PAYMENT STATUS--indicates whether expected monthly payments arecurrent and on time (i.e., whether current balance of required paymentsexceeds amounts paid by client to date).

Lcsw--LOAN STATUS--indicates whether expected monthly repayments arecurrent and on schedule (i.e., whether current balance of requiredrepayments exceeds amounts paid by client to date).

Icsw--INVESTMENT STATUS--indicates whether expected monthly repaymentsare current and on schedule (i.e., whether current balance of requiredrepayments exceeds amounts derived from accrued investment dividends,client "piggyback" payments, etc.),

Ccsw--CREDIT STATUS--indicates that the client's credit balance hasreached zero (i.e., no more credit in the form of check writing orcredit card purchases can be extended to the client). This status isparticularly serious if there is also no client split for the currentmonth (Ccsw=2). It is even worse if this credit balance had to be usedto cover missing payments (Ccsw=3).

Scsw--SPLIT STATUS--indicates that the company's split balance hasreached zero (i.e., the company cannot draw any further upon this creditbalance to pay for account deficits, operating expenses, etc.). Just aswith Ccsw above, this status is particularly serious if there is also nocompany split for the current month (Scsw=2). Likewise, it is even worseif this credit balance had to be used to cover account deficits and/oroperating expenses (Scsw=3).

Dcsw--DEFICIT STATUS--indicates that the account is currently showing adeficit (i.e., that the current deficit exceeds amounts paid by the tooffset it). Just as with the CSW's above, this status is particularlyserious if the company has made no current payment (Dcsw =2). Likewise,it is even worse if the company has not been able to cover a series ofsuch unpaid deficits (Dcsw=3). This latter worst-case condition"triggers" the system to cover any remaining unpaid deficits with theclients accumulated share of the split (i.e., the remainder of theexcess funds over the minimum guaranteed 8%).

Ocsw--OPERATE STATUS--indicates that the account has reached a deficitstatus in attempting to pay operating expenses (i.e., the currentoperation expenses exceed the company's available split funds). Just aswith Dcsw, this status is particularly serious if the company has madeno current payment (Ocsw=2). Likewise, it is even worse if the companyhas not been able to cover a series of such unpaid deficits (Ocsw=3).

It is noted that each of the client account balances describedhereinunder are stored independently on two sets of data arrays, i.e.,the running and archival data arrays, which are shown schematically inFIG. 8. The running data array indexes the balances and dates on amonthly basis and stores such data for the current, last, previous andinitial months. The archival data array indexes balances and dates on ayearly basis, which provides a convenient method, e.g., to generateend-of-fiscal year reports.

Thus, by utilizing the data arrays shown in FIG. 8, an operator canaccess current balances for clients, either based on the current month'sperformance, or based on any desired year in the course of the program.It is noted that with respect to the running data array, the array isconveniently structured so that the current month's balances and datesin the updating cycle may be shifted to the last month's location in thearray, while the last month's data may be shifted to the previousmonth's location. Finally, to allow more detailed review by companyexecutives, the important event-driven milestones, such as months inwhich there was company deficit, investment approval, loan recovery,etc., can be stored as separate levels in the milestone arrays shown inFIG. 8.

CLIENT AND INVESTMENT ACCOUNT FILE FORMATS

As noted in the above description of the system software elements, theclient and investment accounts are stored on disk 3 in a formatcorresponding to the display or printer output format seen by the user.The client account file format is shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B.

The format headings shown in the left hand portion of the client accountfile are as follows: REPORT, CLIENT, STATUS, PARAMETERS, DATES, RATES,ACCOUNT SUMMARY, MONTHLY TRANSACTIONS, PROJECTIONS, THRESHOLDS, andBALANCES. The fields to the right of these headings are labeled in anessentially self-explanatory fashion (and will not be described indetail except as set forth below) to reflect the data which must beassociated therewith. For example, with respect to the REPORT heading inthe "TITLE" field, "Monthly Account Statement" would be inserted.

In FIG. 9A, the client's account number is inserted in the first fieldin the CLIENT heading. This field is utilized by the system software toaccess the client file. The LAST ACTIVITY field in the CLIENT headingreflects the date of the most recent account activity, e.g., loan,investment, etc.

Below the CLIENT heading, the client account format uniquely providesthe control states of the control status words ACCOUNT, PAYMENT, LOAN,INVEST, CREDIT, SPLIT, DEFICIT, and OPERATING, which reflect the clientaccount current status as explained above. The current control states ofthese control status words are stored in the client account file. Likethe other information in the client account file, this information maybe accessed and displayed upon demand by an operator at the monitordisplay terminals 9 shown in FIG. 1.

In the PARAMETER headings, the key variables relating to the client'sinitial deposit X_(o), initial monthly payment Y_(O), number of yearsN_(O) to reach the target goal, and the target amount M_(O) are stored.Thus, under the PARAMETER heading the system allows for the entry ofdata relating to original amounts upon entry of program and the currentparameter value.

With respect to the DATES heading, the "start date" reflects the datethat the client entered the program. The "repayment date" is the dateprojected by the system upon which a loan, investment, or deficit isgoing to be repaid. The "target date" field reflects the projected dateat which the client will reach the target amount based on a projected 8%growth rate of the funds in the account. Thus, the target date is equalto the client's start date plus the number of years required to reachthe target amount (presuming an 8% percent growth of funds). The"projected date" field reflects the date that the system projects thatthe target amount will be reached (presuming that the current growthrate is in excess of 8% and/or presuming that monthly payments made tothe account will be in excess of the initial monthly paymentcommitment).

Under the RATES heading, the growth rate is the actual rate of return onthe funds deposited in the account's investment institution. Theyear-to-date field reflects the fluctuation in the growth rate duringthe year from the minimum to the maximum growth rate. The interest ratefield reflects the interest rate achieved by client-selectedinvestments. As will be explained further below, the client isauthorized to, by way of example only, invest 1/4 of those fundsaccumulated in excess of the 8% guaranteed rate of return.

Below the ACCOUNT SUMMARY entries in the client account format, areTHRESHOLDS, PROJECTIONS and BALANCES headings. Turning first toTHRESHOLDS headings, the fields therein are utilized by the system tostore projections as to how much the account would be currently worth ifthe rate of return for the amount invested would have been at 6%, 8%, or10%. The current balance as reflected by the actual percentage growthachieved by the account is also indicated in the THRESHOLDS heading.

Under the PROJECTIONS heading, the trial deposit increment field allowsan operator to insert a trial initial deposit X₁, while the next fieldallows the operator to input a trial monthly payment increment Y₁. Withthese trial amounts, the system calculates a reduced number of years N₁to reach the original target amount M_(O) and/or an increased targetamount of funds M₁ that will be generated at the end of the originalnumber of years N_(O). This feature provides valuable incentive for theclient to deposit an additional lump sum and/or to increase his monthlypayment.

Under the BALANCES heading, a "default" field is provided whichidentifies current and cumulative amount of funds that the client owesbut has not yet paid to cover loans or investments. Additionally, arequired monthly payment that has not yet been paid would be reflectedin the default balance. In the "client split" field, the clients shareof those funds accumulated over the minimum 8% account growth rate isstored. It is calculated by adding the clients' credit funds plus theamount gained by the client from investments minus loan amounts. The"company profit" field reflects the company's share of this split ofexcess funds minus deficit and costs required to be paid by the company.The "actual balance" is the actual dollar amount of funds currently inthe client's account and reflects the 8% minimum rate of return plus theclient's share of the funds in excess of the minimum 8% growth rate.

Turning next to the client account format ACCOUNT SUMMARY data, shown inFIG. 9B, it is noted that all fields shown identify both monthly andcumulative amounts. The account summary format is divided into clientaccount-related headings and company account-related headings. It isnoted that the company's account-related data may be suppressed from anyclient account printout generated for the client's viewing.

In the account summary, the BALANCE field reflects the client's currentbalance and the minimum balance that must be achieved by the account,i.e., the balance at 8%. Under the PAYMENT heading P_(REQUIRED) is therequired payment, P_(RECEIVED) is the payment actually received from theclient. This payment reflects the agreed-upon monthly payment Yo. Underthe CREDIT heading, C_(LIMIT) is the maximum credit limit available tothe client and may be, by way of example only, 1/4 of the excess fundsaccumulated over the 8% minimum. C_(AVAIL) reflects the amount ofavailable credit in the client's account taking into considerationoutstanding loans. The client may write checks against the CA_(AVAIL)balance or similarly may make credit card purchases against this amount.Under the INVEST heading, I_(LIMIT) is the maximum amount of funds whichmay be invested by the client and may be, by way of example only, 1/4 offunds in excess of the 8% growth balance. When the client invests funds,the variable I_(AVAIL) is reduced, which reflects the current amount offunds that are available for further investment.

The LOAN heading similarly reflects loan limit and loan available data.By way of example only, the loan limit is 10% of the clients 8% balance.In the present exemplary embodiment, funds deducted from the INVESTMENTand LOAN categories are required to be repaid by the client within apredetermined time frame, whereas deductions from the CREDIT field donot have to be repaid.

Under the COMPANY ACCOUNT major heading, the PROFIT heading reflects thecompany's profit which is the company's share of the funds over the 8%minimum client account balance. This company profit is projected to theend of the term of the client's account at year N_(O) based on thecurrent interest rate (above 8%).

Under the SPLIT field headings, S_(LIMIT) reflects the company's shareof the excess funds over the 8% minimum limit. S_(AVAIL) reflects theamount of available credit in the company's account, which may be usedby the company to pay deficits and operating costs when the prevailinginterest rate falls below 8%.

The DEFICIT field reflects the cumulative funds that have been requiredto keep the client account at the 8% minimum balance. The D_(PENDING)field defines the current outstanding amount of funds required to bepaid by the company to bring the client account balance up to the 8%balance and the D_(PAID) field reflects those funds actually paid out bythe company. Hopefully, no entries will needed to be made in this field.

Under the OPERATING heading, operating costs are listed, such asexpenses required to support the client's life insurance policy andother account maintenance expenses. As with the DEFICIT field above,O_(PENDING) AND O_(PAID) reflect the current outstanding and actuallypaid by the company.

Focusing at the left-hand portion of the ACCOUNT SUMMARY, the GROWTHfield defines the current difference or "delta" between the currentmonth and last month balances for the CREDIT, INVESTMENT and LOANheadings under client account data. In the company account data, thegrowth or "delta" in SPLIT data is shown. Under the DEPOSIT WITHDRAWALheading, client deposits made during the month are shown, as well astotal amount of checks, credit cards purchases, etc. The company'sdeposits that are made if, for example, a company utilizes funds fromoutside sources to support the account are also shown in the DEPOSITheading.

Under monthly transactions, the PAYMENTS heading is broken down intoREQUIRED, RECEIVED and DEFAULT subroutines. Default payments, by way ofexample only, are deducted from funds in the client's C_(AVAIL) field.Thus, if a client fails to make a payment, in the present exemplaryembodiment, the payment is deducted from his outstanding credit limitbalance. It should, of course, be recognized that the system may bestructured to handle a client's failure to make payments in some othermanner without departing from the spirit of the present invention.Focusing on the company's account, operating costs and deficits,required to be paid by the company, are deducted from the company'ssplit of the excess funds over the clients' 8% balance in the presentexemplary embodiment.

Under the payments REQUIRED heading, the monthly payment is the client'sagreed-upon initial monthly payment Y_(O). No payment is required tocompensate for any depletion of the clients available credit balancewhich reflects his share of the excess funds over the 8% balance. By wayof example only, the investment available balance (I_(AVAIL)) isrequired to be paid as a separate payment in addition to the monthlypayment (at a monthly payment of the outstanding client investmentamount invested divided by 24) to ensure that the investment is repaidwithin 2 years. Similarly, the loan balance L_(AVAIL) ) is required tobe paid back at monthly payments equal to the outstanding loan amountdivided by 12 to insure that the loan will be repaid within a year.

Under the company account heading, the cumulative deficits (D_(PEND))are paid by the company and are referred to as D_(OFFSET) payments. Thecumulative costs which are (O_(PEND)) pending are the cumulativeoperating costs which must be paid by the company as O_(OPERATE)payments in the exemplary embodiment.

If a client's received payment is in excess of the monthly payment due,the excess is added to the client's available credit and is referred toas a C_(ACCENT) payment. If the client does not make the payment due ordoes not pay the required amount, these funds are reflected as DEFAULTpayments due. Similarly, any shortage in the company's payment isreflected in the company's DEFICIT column. In the DEBITS heading at theleft hand portion of the account summary, all amounts deducted from theaccount during the month are totaled including any default payments, allinvestments or loans by clients and all costs or deficits from thecompany account in the appropriate DEBIT field.

The investment account file format shown in FIG. 11 reflects cumulativestatistics relating to the parameters discussed above in conjunctionwith FIGS. 9A and 9B for all clients who participate in the program. Thereport, bank, and rates headings contain data which is largelyself-explanatory and will not be explained in detail except as indicatedbelow. The BANK (or investment or brokerage house) heading provides forentry of a plurality of account numbers associated with all the funds inthe program. The RATES heading reflects cumulative rates (as explainedabove with respect to the client file) for all the accounts. TheTHRESHOLDS heading represents cumulative data for all the accounts forthe thresholds (6%, 8%, 10%, actual %) discussed above with respect tothe client account.

In the BALANCES heading, the total sum of all the client balances andall the company balances (for both the current and last months) for eachof the client accounts are reflected under this heading. The totalbalance of all the funds in the investment account for the current monthis also stored in this field. The PAYOFFS heading reflects those fundswhich are due for the current month as well as the last month. Thecurrent and the next months payments are projected by the system and thecumulative amounts paid off are listed under the payoff heading.

Under the CLIENT SUMMARY RECORDS, the clients are listed by accountnumber, ID number, and name. The control status words (CSW's) initialPARAMETERS, and pertinent DATES discussed above with respect to theseclient accounts are tabulated for each of the listed clients. For eachof the client accounts, data in the BALANCE, PAYMENT, CREDIT,INVESTMENT, LOAN fields are summarized. Furthermore, the associatedcompany data in the, PROFIT, SPLIT, DEFICIT, and OPERATE fields,described above with respect to the client account formats, aresummarized.

In the ACCOUNT SUMMARY field, the total number of clients having controlstatus words (CSW's) with levels 1 and 4 flags set are listed for eachof the control status words (A, P, L, I, C, S, D, O). Additionally, thetotal number of clients having selected M_(O) dollar amount targets arelisted for target amounts from, for example, $100,000 to $2,000,000. Thetotal number of clients having various programs that start or finishduring the current/last/next month or year are likewise listed. In thisfashion, statistical data can be accumulated to identify the most oftenutilized target amounts and time periods as well as identifying thenumber of clients who are leaving and entering the program at a giventime. The CLIENT ACCOUNT SUMMARY and COMPANY ACCOUNT SUMMARY, which areshown below the CLIENT ACCOUNT and COMPANY ACCOUNT SUMMARY records, aremerely the summation of the fields in each of the headings shown. Thissummation data provides valuable information for the company executiveinto the total assets and liabilities for the company.

The final data stored in the investment account file are the MONTHLYINCREMENT and PERCENTAGE CHANGE data for the total clients in thesystem. The number of clients in each status are aggregated according tolevel 1 and 4 of the control status words (CSW's), and the total numberof clients at each dollar amount target amount, and starting andfinishing dates are further summarized. Finally, the overall monthlyincrement and percentage change data at the end of the file aretabulated for the entire system across each client account and companyaccount summary field. Under each of these increment headings, thechange in the account is calculated based on the current amount minusthe previous month's amount and the percentage change is based on thisdifference divided by the last amount. This summation data providesvaluable insight for the company executive into identifying importanttrends and patterns in month-to-month transitions.

Turning now to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 11-15, FIG. 11 shows thePROCESS SERVICE REQUESTS routine which is depicted at block 212 in thesoftware element subsystem diagram shown in FIG. 7. After the PROCESSSERVICE REQUESTS routine is entered (300), the client account number andaccount ID is read from the operator terminal 9 shown in FIG. 1. Theseaccount numbers and ID numbers are obtained by the operator from theclient who is attempting to make a transaction (302). Thereafter, theclient account file is retrieved from disk and the client ID number isretrieved from the ID file (304).

The client ID number is then compared with the retrieved file ID number(306). If the two ID's do not match, a message is written indicatingthat the ID is invalid (308), which is followed by a message indicatingthat the request has been denied (310) and the routine is exited.

If the check at block 306 indicates that the IDs match, then datadefining the type of request the client is interested in making and theamount of the request are obtained from the input terminal (312).

Initially, a check is made at block 314 to determine whether the type ofrequest is a check or credit card related request. If so, then acomparison is made of the amount requested and the funds in the client'scredit available field. If the amount requested exceeds the amountavailable, as determined at 316, then a message is written that therequest exceeds the available balance (318) followed by a request deniedmessage (310) and the routine is exited.

If the check at block 316 indicates that the amount requested is lessthan or equal to the amount available, then the credit available isupdated by subtracting the amount requested from the credit availableand an authorization number is returned to the operator's terminal(320). Thereafter, a request granted message is generated and sent tothe terminal and the transaction is entered in the transaction file(322), after which the routine is exited.

If the check at block 314 indicates that the type of request is not acheck or credit card request, then a check is made at block 324 todetermine whether the type of request is an investment request. If so,then a check is made to determine whether the amount requested isgreater than the amount available for investments (326). If so, then theinvestment request is denied and appropriate messages are generated atblocks 318 and 310 and the routine is exited.

If the amount requested is not less than or equal to the amountavailable for investment, then the control status words indicating thatan investment has been made are set. Thereafter, the availableinvestment balance is updated and investment documents are sent to theclient (328). The routine is exited after the request granted processingpreviously described at block 322.

If the check at block 324 indicates that an investment request has notbeen made, then a check is made at 330 to determine whether a loanrequest has been made. If a loan request has been made, then a check ismade at block 332 to determine whether the credit available is greaterthan zero. If so, then a message is generated to indicate that credit isavailable and the client is advised to write a check to fund thetransaction (342) and the routine branches back to block 312 to processthe client's check. Thus, in the exemplary embodiment, by virtue of thedetermination at 332, the applicant is precluded from seeking a loan ifhe has a balance in his checking account.

If the check at block 332 reveals that the credit available balance isless than or equal to zero, then a check is made to determine whetherthe amount of the loan request is greater than the amount which theclient is authorized to borrow. If so, then the loan request is deniedand the routine is exited via blocks 318 and 310.

If the amount of the loan request is less than or equal to the amountavailable to be loaned, then a check is made at block 336 to compare theloan limit with the loan available to determine whether there are anyoutstanding loans If so, then at block 340 the existing loans areupdated as per the formula shown in block 340. After updating existingloans at block 340, or if the check at block 336 yields a negativeresponse, the loan available balance is updated by subtracting theamount of the loan requested. Additionally, appropriate loan controlstatus words are set. Thereafter, request granted processing takes placeat block 322 after which the routine is exited.

If the check at block 330 reveals that a loan request has not been made,then a check is made at block 344 to determine whether a trial balancehas been requested. If so, a trial balance is calculated as per block348 to find a new target amount M₁ or a new target date N₁ based onincreased monthly payments Y₁ and/or an increased cash deposit X₁ (theactual processing algorithms to find M₁ /N₁ are shown and described atblock 496 in FIG. 9).

If the check at block 344 reveals that a new trial balance has not beenrequested, then a message is written to inform the operator that thecurrent inquiry is an invalid request (346) and the routine branchesback to 312 to read further requests from the terminal.

Turning now to the UPDATE CLIENT FILES routine, the functions performedby this routine are generically shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. The routineserves to calculate all the values for the variable fields shown in theformat for the client account file described above in conjunction withFIGS. 6A and 6B.

Initially, variables are retrieved and updated which affect much of thesubsequent processing done in the routine. In this regard, after theUPDATE CLIENT FILES routine is entered (400), the current growth ratepercentage is retrieved from the bank input (402). Thereafter, avariable I_(RATE) is determined by dividing the growth rate percentageminus 8% by 12 to determine the monthly rate. Additionally, a referenceconstant reflecting the 8% minimum rate of return is stored which isequal to 1.067 as shown in FIG. 12A. The client file year-to-dateminimum and maximum interest rate or growth rate figures are alsoupdated. Additionally, the transaction file is sorted by client accountnumber to organize monthly transactions made for investments, loans,checks, etc. The update client file routine loop is then initialized foreach successive client to be processed. Using "X" to represent any givenclient, the client account file for the next given client X is retrievedand all transactions for client X are retrieved (404). Thereafter, theheader data for the client account file is printed out including thedata relating to the report, client, status, and other parameters, asshown at block 406.

The account growth processing phase of the UPDATE CLIENT FILES routineloop is then entered. In block 408 an initial calculation is made of apreliminary balance (BAL) which is a balance incremented by the 8%minimum growth rate (which is equal to 1.067 times the prior balance).Thereafter, the balance at 8% (which is the minimum guaranteed accountbalance) is set equal to 1.067 times the previous 8% balance to serve asa reference as to how much greater the actual balance (BAL) is at anygiven time over the course of the program. Additionally, loan limit andloan available updating calculations are made at block 408. It is notedthat the loan limit is tied to the 8% balance by way of example only.

Thereafter, as determined by the check at block 410, a determination ismade whether the current growth rate is greater than 8% which indicatesthat the system is in the profit making zone and is not running at adeficit. If the growth rate does exceed the minimum 8% rate, then asdetermined at block 412 the limits associated with the clients accountare expanded by the current growth rate. The variable shown in block 412are those variables which are affected by the current growth rate. Thepercentage of the excess funds which are utilized to expand thesevariables are arbitrary values that may be set to any desiredpercentage. Thus, for example, the credit available to a client may beexpanded beyond the current credit available plus 1/4 of the excess overthe 8% minimum guaranteed rate of return. Note that the DEFICIT variableis appropriately set to zero.

If the growth rate, however, is below the 8% minimum, then controlstatus switches are set to indicate that a deficit condition exists andthat there is no split of profits between the company and the client.Thereafter, the deficit amount is calculated (414) and stored in theDEFICIT variable for subsequent processing herein. After the processingin either block 412 or 414, the growth changes or "deltas" set forth inthe client account format in FIG. 9B are printed.

The deposit and withdrawal processing phase of the routine is nextentered. In this regard, a check is made at 418 to determine whether aclient deposit has been made. If so, the client deposit is added to thepayment received field (420). A check is then made at block 422 todetermine whether the payment received is greater than or equal to thepayment required. If the payment received is not greater than or equalto the payment required, then a control status word flag is setindicating this condition and the client is sent an insufficient noticeand the routine sequences to block 428. If the payment received isgreater than or equal to the payment required, then the payment controlstatus word is reset (424) and the routine advances to block 428.

A check is then made at block 428 to determine whether the company hasmade a deposit. If the company has presented a deposit, then the companydeposit will be added to the company profit field in the client accountfile (430). A check is then made at block 432 to determine whether theprofit field in the client account file is greater than or equal to thepending deficit. If not, the appropriate control status word is set andthe company is sent a warning notice indicating that further funds arerequired (436) and the routine advances to block 438. If, however, thecompany profit is greater than or equal to the pending deficit, then thedeficit control status word is reset (434) and routine advances to block438.

A check is next made to determine whether the client account has anybank debits associated with it (438). If so, then the client hasutilized his checking account or credit account privileges and a newcredit available balance is determined by subtracting the new checksand/or purchases (440). Thereafter, a test is made to determine whetherthe client's credit available is greater than zero (442). If not, theappropriate flag in the credit control status word is set and the bankis sent a credit cut-off notice with respect to client X (444) and theroutine sequences to block 446. If the client's available credit isgreater than or equal to zero (as determined at 442) or if the check at438 indicates that there are no bank debits associated with the account,a printout is generated of all current deposits and withdrawals in theclient's account (446).

Thereafter, the monthly processing portion of the routine is entered.Initially, the required monthly payments is set equal to Y_(O), theagreed-upon monthly payment (448). A check is then made at block 450 todetermine whether the client's investment limit is greater than hisinvestment available funds. If so, the investment payment required isset equal to the amount of the investment divided by 24 (452). Itshould, of course, be recognized that how fast client investments arepaid off or whether they are required to be paid off at all may bemodified from the requirements set forth in the exemplary embodiment.

Thereafter, a check is made to determine whether there are anyoutstanding loans by determining whether the client's loan limit isgreater than his loan available funds (454). If so, then the loanpayment is set to be equal to the amount of the outstanding loan dividedby 12 (456). Thus in the present exemplary embodiment loans are requiredto be repaid within 12 months.

If the check at block 454 indicates that the loan limit is not greaterthan the loan available or after processing at 456, the routine advancesto block 458 wherein cumulative account costs are calculated. Thepending operating costs are then determined by adding the pendingoperating costs plus the current operating costs plus life insurance andother account operating expenses. After the pending operating costs arecalculated, a global variable labeled "AMOUNT" is set equal to therequired operating costs which is, in turn, equal to the pendingoperating cost. The DEFAULT subroutine (described later with respect toFIG. 14) is then called (458) with AMOUNT as one of the parameters beingpassed.

When the DEFAULT subroutine is called from block 458, the prefix "0" foroperating costs is assigned to the variables processed by thesubroutine. In this regard, it is noted that the DEFAULT subroutineshown and described with FIG. 14 is a generalized processing routinethat assigns the pertinent prefix (P/C/I/L/D/O) to the calling routine'sarray variables which are being modified, decremented, or switched(e.g., CSW, avail, default, pend, paid, etc.). Thus, when called fromblock 458 the DEFAULT subroutine calculates the operating costs thatmust be subtracted from the company's funds.

A check is next made at block 460 to determine whether the deficitcontrol status word has been set. If the check at block 460 determinesthat the deficit flag DCSW1 is on, the routine establishes a cumulativeaccount deficit (462). In this regard, the pending deficit is set equalto the old pending deficit minus the new deficit (which is a negativenumber) to yield a larger deficit. Thereafter, the global variable"AMOUNT" is set equal to the deficit payment required which is, in turn,equal to the deficit pending. The DEFAULT subroutine is called (460)with AMOUNT as a passed parameter. As described above, the prefix D (fordeficit) is now assigned to the local variables processed by the DEFAULTsubroutine.

Upon entry into the DEFAULT subroutine, which is shown in FIG. 14A and14B, a letter prefix is assigned to all variables processed in thesubroutine. As noted above, if the routine is entered from block 458,then all the variables are associated with the operating prefix "0".Alternatively, if the subroutine is called from block 462, then allvariables are associated with the deficit prefix "D". Furthermore, thelocal variable "DEFAULT" is initialized to 0.

The DEFAULT subroutine serves to determine the amount of funds requiredto cover default payment or deficit and to set or reset the associatedcontrol status words. The routine also determines the hierarchy ofsubaccounts from which such funds are to be extracted. The deficitprocessing section of the default subroutine represents funds covered bythe company. The default processing section of subroutine representsfunds that must be covered by the client.

The DEFAULT subroutine receives as inputs, the payment AMOUNT suppliedby the client or company and the payment REQUIRED to have been made. Ifthe amount paid is less than the amount required, as noted above, thesubroutine then determines how to cover the deficit or default.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in shown in FIG. 14, if the paymentrequired relates to a company deficit or a company operating expense,then the payment is covered by the amount of funds in the company'ssplit of profits (i.e., from S_(avail)).

If the payment required does not relate to a company account deficit oroperating expense or if the company's available funds are exhausted,then in the present exemplary embodiment, the funds are extracted firstfrom the client's credit available balance. If no funds are available inthe client credit available balance, then the funds are extracted fromthe clients available investment balance.

If the investment funds are exhausted, then the company will extend aloan to the client to cover defaults attributed to the client. If theloan available funds are also exhausted, then the routine enters adisclaimer processing mode. In this mode, a client may be sent, forexample, a notice indicating that the desired target amount M cannot bereached unless the client sends in a deposit to restore the account tothe required level.

It is noted that in the default processing routine, if the clientneglects to make the agreed-upon monthly payment, the monthly payment isextracted from the client's available credit, then from the investedfunds, and thereafter sequences to a loan mode to cover the requiredmonthly payment. Thus, the default processing subroutine serves toinsure that the client's account is kept on track such that the minimum8% return is sustained by the company, and such that the target goal M,is achieved by the client by the end of the prescribed timeframe (yearN). This subroutine presents one exemplary approach to covering companyand/or client payment problems which may ultimately result, as a worstcase scenario, in the disclaimer processing cited.

After default processing, the DEFAULT subroutine then returns control tothe calling UPDATE CLIENT FILES routine at block 464. After printing outthe payments required for the current month (464), the routine thenchecks the clients transaction file to determine whether a monthlypayment was made. If the monthly payment was made, the variable "AMOUNT"is set equal to that payment as per block 466.

A check is then made at block 468 to determine whether a monthly paymentis required for the current month. If a payment is required, then avariable "REQUIRED" is set equal to the client's monthly payment(Y_(O)). Thereafter, a DEDUCT subroutine, which is shown and describedin FIG. 13 is called. Turning briefly to the DEDUCT subroutine, thesubroutine is entered at block 504. Just as with the DEFAULT subroutinedescribed above, a unique letter prefix is assigned to all localvariables, depending on the name of the calling routine from which thesubroutine is called. For example, if the subroutine is called fromblock 470, then all variables are assigned the payment prefix "P".

After assigning the appropriate letter prefix in block 506, the amountrequired to be paid is subtracted from the payment actually made and theresult is stored in the global variable "AMOUNT". Thereafter, AMOUNT ischecked to see if it has a value greater than or equal to zero (508). Ifthe amount is at least equal to zero, indicating that the right amounthas been paid, then the available and received variables are updated(516). Thereafter, a check is made of the CSW associated with theassigned prefix (518). If the CSW is on, then that CSW is reset and amessage is sent to the operator (520) indicating that the associated CSWflag has been "cancelled" or fully reset. The subroutine then returns tothe main calling routine as per block 514.

If the check at 508 reveals that the amount of the required paymentminus the client's actual payment was less than zero, then the variable"AMOUNT" has its sign changed and the DEFAULT subroutine is called andentered at the appropriate point P, L, I, or C (510), for processing adefault payment, as discussed above. Thereafter, AMOUNT is reset to zero(512) and the subroutine returns to the main calling routine (514).

Turning back to FIG. 12, after the execution of the DEDUCT subroutinewhich subtracts the required monthly payment from the amount paid, or ifno monthly payment was required at block 468, then the variable "LOAN"is set equal to the loan available which is the current loan availablevalue minus last month's loan available value (472), in order to providefor subsequent printing of this amount.

Thereafter, a check is made to determine whether a loan repayment isrequired for the current month (474). If so, the variable "REQUIRED" isset equal to L_(REQ) and the DEDUCT subroutine is called wherein theletter prefix "L" is assigned to variables processed by the subroutine(476) as explained above. After the processing at block 476, or if noloan repayment was required at block 474, then the variable "INVEST" isset equal to the variable I_(avail) which is the current investmentamount available minus last month's amount available (478).

Thereafter, a test is made at block 480 to determine whether a repaymentis required of the client to cover his or her investments. If so, thevariable "REQUIRED" is set equal to I_(required), and the variable"AMOUNT" is updated to take into account any dividend which may havebeen paid on the investment. The DEDUCT subroutine is then called atentry point "I" to subtract the payment required from the amount (482),as described above.

After the processing at block 482 or if no investment repayment wasrequired at block 480, a check is made to determine whether the variable"AMOUNT" is still greater than zero (484). If so, the client has made apayment in excess of all the required payments. Such an excess paymentis referred to as an "accent payment" and is credited to the client toraise his credit line (486). To do this, the DEDUCT subroutine is calledat entry point "C" to update the client's available credit (486), asdescribed above.

After the processing at block 486, or if the check at block 484 revealsthat there is nothing left over, the variables "PAYMENTS RECEIVED" and"DEFAULT PAYMENTS" are printed out (488). Thereafter, total defaultamounts are calculated as the C_(DEBIT) for the client and S_(DEBIT) forthe company (490), followed by total amounts for INVEST and LOAN, ifapplicable. All of these account debits are then printed out if anyexist (490).

After printing out the account debits, the routine sequences to theaccount balances processing, beginning at block 492 of FIG. 12. Thisaccount balances processing calculates the values for the accountthresholds, projections, and balances shown at the end of the client'saccount file.

Initially, the overall company profit (PROFIT) and client balance (BAL)for the current month are calculated using the equations shown in block492. Thereafter, the threshold values are calculated for the targetamount M at the growth rates of 6%, 8%, 10%, and the current growthrate, GR%. These thresholds are determined based on the equations shownat block 494 and as previously described in the specification. It isnoted that the month index "j" is initialized to the current month sothat the resulting future balance is appropriately projected from thecurrent month's balance. Hence, the balance for the current monthBAL_(j) must include the previous month's balance plus the currentmonth's monthly payment (Y.sub.φ).

Thereafter, at block 496, projections are calculated for an increasedtarget amount M₁ and/or reduced number of years N₁ based on a trialdeposit increment of X₁ and/or a trial payment increment Y₁. If thetrial deposit increment and/or trial payment increment are not selectedby the client, then by way of example, the system defaults to apredetermined trial deposit and trial monthly payment to stimulateclient interest, as shown at the bottom of block 496. The equation shownat block 496 is similar to the equation shown at block 494 except thatthe balances are supplemented by the trial deposit X₁ and/or anincreased payment increment Y₁.

After the processing at block 496, the projected company split ofprofits up to year N_(o) is determined (498). Thereafter, the updatedbalances for client default, client split, company profit, and clientBAL fields are printed out, thereby completing all calculations requiredto update the file for client X (500). The routine then returns to loopinit processing at entry point A in FIG. 12 to store back on disk 3 theupdated account file for client X.

A check is then made to determine whether the routine has reached theend of the client account file (506) and, if so, the routine is exited(508). If not, the account file for the next client is retrieved (404)and the UPDATE CLIENT FILES routine continues processing until allclient files have been processed.

Turning now to the UPDATE INVESTMENT FILE routine shown in FIGS. 15A and15B, after entering (700), the investment file is first retrieved fromdisk 3 (702). The current growth rate, GR%, is initially updated basedon bank input (702). The investment file includes summary records foreach client, as described in detail in conjunction with the investmentfile format of FIG. 10. To update all the required investment fileinformation, the routine retrieves the client account file for eachsuccessive next client X (704) and steps the previously-retrievedinvestment file to the client summary record for client X (706).

A check is then made to determine if client X has his own summary record(708). If client X does not have a summary record, then this indicatesthat the client is new to the system, so that a new client summaryrecord must be constructed and inserted into the investment file clientsummary record field (710). After constructing the new record for clientX, the system is then advanced to this record by virtue of block 706.

If the check at block 708 indicates that there is a summary record forclient X, then the routine will advance to the update client summaryrecord loop (712). In block 712, the account's status is set to show allCSW's whose first level and/or fourth level are ON. The first levelreflects the number of accounts with a "flag" and the fourth level,those with a serious "flagged" condition. Additionally, the basicparameters described above X_(O), Y_(O), N_(O), and M_(O) are set forthe client record being updated and the pertinent account dates areupdated (712).

A check is made at block 713 to determine whether the projected date forachieving the target goal is greater than or equal to last month. If so,then the client's payoff figure is calculated at block 715. After theprocessing at block 715, or if the projected date is less than lastmonth, the BALANCE field is set equal to BAL (717). Thereafter, thecounters are incremented to keep track of the number of clients havingtarget amounts M_(o) at incremental levels ranging from $100K to $2M(719).

With the current status of such variables updated, the routine thenreplaces all client and company account fields in the summary recordwith updated amounts retrieved from the individual client account filepreviously discussed with respect to FIG. 10. The specific accountfields which are updated are listed in block 714.

Thereafter, all thresholds and balances for the entire system areincremented at block 721. A check is then made at block 716 to determinewhether client X has made default payments. If so, then a record is keptof that client's summary record in a temporary file for later printout(718). If no default payment has been made, then a check is made todetermine whether deficit payments have been made out of the account(720). If the account has made deficit payments, then a record of suchis also stored in the temporary file (718). Thereafter, the summaryrecord for client X is stored back on disk 3 (722) and the clientaccount file for the next client is retrieved (704), if the account filehas not reached the end of file (724). If the client account file is atthe end of file, then another check is made to determine whether thesummary records for all clients (A , . . . , Z) have been processed(726).

After all client files have been processed, an end processing routine isentered (728). In the end processing, the total account summaryinformation is determined. In this regard, the number of accounts whichfall into each category shown in the account summaries are tabulated. Asummation of each field across the client and company account headingsis performed. Thereafter, the net change or "delta" in each of thecategories and fields are calculated by taking the current month'samount and subtracting last month's amount. This permits the percentagechange to be likewise calculated for each category or field. All thesummations, deltas and percentage changes thus calculated are thenstored in their proper file positions within the pertinent accountsummary and monthly increment arrays, as described earlier with respectto FIG. 8. Thereafter, as indicated at block 730, all accounts areprinted out with current payoff, default, and/or deficit balances forcompany review. This data may be used to determine what action, if any,must be taken for such accounts on behalf of the entire system.Thereafter, the complete, updated investment file is printed out for thecompany's review, complete with aggregate balances, thresholds, andpayoffs. The updated investment file is thereafter stored on disk (732)and the routine is exited at block 734.

While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An investment tracking data processing systemcomprising:data entry means for entering investment related dataincluding a target amount for each of a plurality of client accounts;memory means for storing instructions and for storing data in aplurality of client account files; and control means, coupled to saidmemory means and said data entry means, for executing said instructionsand for processing said data, said control means including means forassociating said data with a corresponding one of said plurality ofclient account files, for updating cumulative investment base data ineach of said plurality of client account files, means for segregatingeach of said plurality of client account files into a plurality ofaccount fund files, and means for projecting, based upon said investmentrelated data, the amount of time required, for said cumulativeinvestment base to reach said target amount.
 2. An investment trackingdata processing system according to claim 1, wherein said data entrymeans includes means for entering initial investment base related dataassociated with said accounts, said control means including means forupdating said investment related data in each of said plurality ofaccount funds files as a function of account growth in excess of apredetermined rate of return.
 3. An investment tracking data processingsystem according to claim 2, wherein said means for updating saidinvestment base related data is further responsive to prevailing rate ofreturn data.
 4. An investment tracking data processing system accordingto claim 2, further including means for storing indicia in said accountfiles related to achievement of said predetermined rate of return on theinitial investment base.
 5. An investment tracking data processingsystem according to claim 1, wherein said data entry means includesmeans for entering target amount data, initial investment base data, andmonthly payment data, said means for projecting being responsive to saidentered data for determining the number of years required to reach saidtarget amount presuming account growth at least at the prevailing rateof return.
 6. An investment tracking data processing system according toclaim 1, wherein said control means includes means for monitoring clientaccount investment base fluctuations over time and for periodicallydetermining the current client account progress towards achieving saidtarget amount.
 7. An investment tracking data processing systemaccording to claim 6, further including means for storing in at leastone of said client account files indicia responsive to prevailinginterest rates and financial service usage for determining the amount offunds by which a client investment base is to be modified based on suchservice usage and prevailing interest rates; and means for determiningin response to such service usage and prevailing interest rates, theamount of funds to be targeted or withdrawn from at least one associatedseparate account, whereby the balance in at least one associated companyaccount is varied depending upon client account performance.
 8. Aninvestment tracking data processing system according to claim 6, whereinsaid client account investment base fluctuations are due to at least oneof prevailing interest rates and use of financial services;said controlmeans including means for selectively approving financial service use;and means responsive to said means for selectively approving fordecrementing said client cumulative investment base data.
 9. Aninvestment tracking data processing system according to claim 8, whereinsaid means for selectively approving includes means for verifying theclients' identification.
 10. An investment tracking data processingsystem according to claim 8, wherein said means for selectivelyapproving includes means for analyzing the service request by comparinga predetermined portion of the clients' account balance with the amountof funds associated with said services request.
 11. An investmenttracking data processing system according to claim 10, wherein saidservice request is at lest one of a loan request, an investment request,a check or credit card honoring request.
 12. An investment tracking dataprocessing system according to claim 1, further including means formonitoring the updated investment base related data associated with atleast one of said client account files and for comparing said data withpredetermined growth rate threshold related indicia.
 13. An investmenttracking data processing system according to claim 12, further includingmeans responsive to said comparison for updating and modifying theaccount investment base indicia.
 14. An investment tracking dataprocessing system according to claim 1, wherein said data entry meansincludes a keyboard and a display means, whereby an operator entersinvestment related data received via a telephone line.
 15. An investmenttracking data processing system according to claim 1, wherein each ofsaid client account files include means for storing limits associatedwith loan, checking and insurance privileges of said accounts.
 16. Aninvestment tracking data processing system according to claim 1, whereinsaid data processing system further includes at least one modem and saiddata entry means includes terminal means connected to said memory meansvia said at least one modem.
 17. An investment tracking data processingsystem according to claim 16, further including a plurality of auxiliaryprocessor means, each of said plurality of auxiliary processor meansbeing coupled to said memory means, for handling service processingtasks assigned by said control means.
 18. An investment tracking dataprocessing system according to claim 17, wherein one of said pluralityof auxiliary processor means is coupled to at least one modem and isdedicated to handling input-output processing tasks.
 19. An investmenttracking data processing system according to claim 1 wherein saidcontrol means further includes control status word means including atleast one control status word having a plurality of bit positions, eachbit position being indicative of a predetermined account related statuscondition, said control means including means for controlling theprogram execution sequence depending upon the state of said at least onecontrol status word.
 20. An investment tracking data processing systemaccording to claim 19, wherein said means for updating said entered dataincludes means for setting bit positions in said at least one controlstatus word.
 21. An investment tracking data processing system accordingto claim 19, wherein said at least one control status word reflects therate of growth of a client investment base.
 22. An investment trackingdata processing system according to claim 19, wherein each of saidclient account files includes means for storing data reflecting theamount of funds available for financial services, and wherein eachclient file further includes means for storing the active control statesof said at least one control status word.
 23. An investment trackingdata processing system according to claim 19, wherein said data entrymeans includes an associated means for displaying, and wherein saidcontrol means including means for controlling the display to display thecontrol states of said at least one control status word.
 24. Aninvestment tracking data processing system according to claim 19,wherein said at least one control status word includes means indicativeof an error condition.
 25. An investment tracking data processing systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said means for segregating includes meansfor dividing initially received investment data into at least twoseparate account fund files, wherein one of said account fund files isdedicated to achieving said target amount.
 26. An investment trackingdata processing system according to claim 1, further including aplurality of data arrays for storing investment related data, includinga current month data array and a previous month data array, said controlmeans further including updating means for shifting data from thecurrent month data array to the previous month data array and forthereafter loading data relating to the current month into the currentmonth data array.
 27. An investment track data processing systemaccording to claim 1, further including means for retrieving form saidmemory means a plurality of said client account files; andmeans,responsive to said means for retrieving, for storing in a separate filein said memory means cumulative investment related data from each ofsaid client account files.
 28. A method of operating an investmenttracking data processing system having a data entry means for enteringinvestment related data, memory means for storing said data andprocessing means coupled to said data entry means and said memory meansfor processing said investment data, said method comprising the stepsof:entering investment related data including a target amount via saiddata entry means; associating said entered investment data with acorresponding one of a plurality of client account files; segregatingeach of said client account file into a plurality of account fund files;updating said plurality of client account files to maintain cumulativeinvestment base data for each of said client account files; andprojecting, via said processing means, based upon said investmentrelated data the amount of time required for said cumulative investmentbase to reach said target amount.
 29. A method according to claim 28,further including the steps of:entering initial investment base relateddata associated with said accounts; and updating said investment baserelated data in each of said plurality of account fund files as afunction of account growth in excess of a predetermined rate of return.30. A method according to claim 29, wherein the step of updating saidinvestment data is further responsive to prevailing rate of return data.31. A method according to claim 29, further including the step ofstoring in said account files indicia related to achievement of saidpredetermined return on the initial investment base.
 32. A methodaccording to claim 29, further including the steps of:monitoring clientaccount investment base fluctuations over time; and periodicallydetermining the current client account progress towards achieving saidtarget amount.
 33. A method according to claim 32, further including thesteps of:storing in at least one of said client account files indiciaresponsive to prevailing interest rates and financial service usage;determining the amount of funds by which the client investment base isto be modified based on said interest rates and financial service usage;and determining, in response to both service usage and prevailinginterest rates, the amount of funds to be deposited or withdrawn from atleast one separate account, whereby an associated company accountbalance is varied depending upon client account performance.
 34. Amethod according to claim 29, further including the steps of:monitoringthe updated investment base related data associated with at least one ofsaid client account files; and comparing said data with predeterminedgrowth rate threshold related indicia.
 35. A method according to claim34, further including the step of updating the account investment baseindicia in response to said comparing step.
 36. A method according toclaim 28, wherein said entering step includes entering initialinvestment base data and monthly payment data, and wherein saidprojecting step includes the step of determining the number of yearsrequired to reach the target amount presuming account growth at least ata predetermined rate of return.
 37. A method according to claim 28,further including the steps of monitoring client investment basefluctuations due to at least one of prevailing interest rates and use offinancial services, andselectively approving financial service use inresponse to said monitoring step; and decrementing said clientcumulative investment base if financial service use is approved.
 38. Amethod according to claim 37, wherein said step of selectively approvingincludes the step of analyzing the service request by comparing apredetermined portion of the client's account balance with the amount offunds associated with said services request.
 39. A method according toclaim 28 further including the step of monitoring client accountfluctuations due to at least one of a load request, an investmentrequest, a check or credit card honoring request.
 40. A method accordingto claim 28, wherein said processing means includes control status wordmeans including at least one control status word having a plurality ofbit positions, each bit position being indicative of a predeterminedrelated status condition, wherein said method further includes the stepof controlling at least one instruction sequence executed by theprocessing means depending upon the state of said at least one controlstatus word. state of said at least one control status word.
 41. Amethod according to claim 40, wherein said step of updating saidplurality of account files includes the step of setting bit positions insaid at least one control status word.
 42. A method according to claim40, wherein said at least one control status word reflects the rate ofgrowth of a client investment base.
 43. A method according to claim 40,including the steps of storing data reflecting the amount of fundsavailable for financial services in each of said client account filesand storing the active control states of said at least one controlstatus word in each of said client account files.
 44. A method accordingto claim 40, wherein said data entry means includes an associated meansfor displaying, said method further including controlling the display todisplay the control states of said at least one control status word. 45.A method according to claim 44, further including the step of dedicatingat least one control status word to be indicative of an error condition.46. A method according to claim 28, further including a plurality ofdata arrays for storing investment related data, including a currentmonth data array and a previous month data array, said method includingthe steps of shifting data from the current month data array to aprevious month data array and thereafter loading data relating to thecurrent month into the current month data array.
 47. A method accordingto claim 28, further indicating the steps of:retrieving from said memorymeans a plurality of said client account files; and storing in aseparate file in said memory means cumulative investment related datafrom each of said retrieved client account files.
 48. A method accordingto claim 28, wherein said step of segregating includes the step ofdividing initially received investment data into at least two separateaccount fund files; andutilizing one of said account fund files toachieving said target amount.